Pacific lamprey show signs of recovery in Umatilla River

Posted Jun 13, 2018

Lamprey attach to a viewing window at Bonneville Dam where new passage ways for lamprey are being tested to allow the fish to more successfully move up the Columbia River during their return from the ocean. (Randy L. Rasmussen/The Oregonian)

The Pacific lamprey might not be the most photogenic species of fish in the Columbia River basin, but despite their eel-like appearance and fang-filled mouth, conservationists and tribal members have been working for decades to save the fish from extinction in some of its native habitat.

It appears some of those efforts are beginning to show success.

The Bonneville Power Administration announced Tuesday that the lamprey has returned to the Umatilla River in numbers not seen in years, marking a victory not just for the fish, but also for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla, for which the species is of great value, both culturally and as a food source.

"Lamprey are culturally important and a critical First Food for tribes. And while they've been around for millions of years, until rather recently, managers failed to understand their importance within the food web," Aaron Jackson, fisheries biologist with the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, said in a press release. "Our focus now is to continue lamprey supplementation actions to bolster the overall numbers of lamprey in the Umatilla and other ceded area basins."

Just five years ago, there were only a few hundred lamprey in the Umatilla River, a tributary that feeds into the Columbia River in northeastern Oregon. For more than two decades, the tribes have been working to bolster those numbers, moving adult fish to the spawning grounds in the Umatilla.

This year, more than 2,600 lamprey were counted making the journey upriver to breed.

"We understand the cultural significance of Pacific lamprey to the tribes which is one reason we've funded lamprey projects in the Umatilla," Lorri Bodi, vice president of Environment, Fish and Wildlife with the Bonneville Power Administration, said in a statement. The administration has invested more than $5 million in helping the tribes with their lamprey work since 1990/

"As a food source for other creatures, lamprey are also very important to a healthy functioning ecosystem such as in the Umatilla River so it's great to see our efforts paying off," Bodi said.